I finished hemming my dress on the weekend but I'm afraid you'll have to wait a bit for some proper pictures of it. You see I'm supposed to be getting on a plane this afternoon and so far my packing consists of a large pile of clothes and knitting on top of a suitcase. I'm not sure if I'll be able to do much blogging while I'm away but I should be able to send pictures to my Flickr to share some of my adventures.

I just don't seem to have the drive to write long blog posts this week so this is a super quick update for my two major projects right now:

Number 1: The Crepe Dress

I got the sash cut out and sewn together on Sunday and attached the bodice to the skirt. I have a dress (and it fits too!) lacking only a hem and a proper photoshoot in order to be considered complete. This weekend is a long weekend so hopefully I'll manage to do both of those things.

Number 2: Rob's Sweater

As of right now all the pieces (front, back and two sleeves) have been knitted and all the ends woven in. I'm going to seam it up and knit the collar tonight. This means I'll be steam blocking instead of wet blocking but I think I can get away with it. We're having some family pictures taken tomorrow and I really want the sweater to be finished in time. I know I've said it before but I still love this yarn.

Gratuitous Critter Picture:

Ollie spent most of lunch time trying to fit herself in that box. Abby helped out by alternatively supervising and chewing on the box.

It's amazing what you can accomplish when you actually sit down and work on things. Once I had interfacing on the arm hole facings I sketched out some new lines and when I was satisfied with them I matched up the two pieces and trimmed them down. I kept the sewing machine nice as slow as I went along and used only the hand wheel in the really curvy spots. I remember when I started sewing and felt like I always needed to go fast to be a good seamstress but the secret is really to know you can go as slow as you want. I followed Gertie's advice and understitched the facings by hand (and learned a new stitch - the pick stitch - at the same time); it actually went pretty quickly and I really like the result. I also tacked the facing to the side and shoulder seams to help keep it in place. The neck facing won't be sewn on until I've got the sash ready to go. I think I might work on that after dinner.